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Harry Awurumibe, Abuja.
Star Boy… Sameuls Chukwueze of Villarreal/Nigeria is nominated for Kopa Trophy Award category
Top African footballers plying their trade in big clubs in Europe have been nominated among the 30 players unveiled by the organizers of the annual Ballon d’ Or with Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze nominated for Kopa Trophy Award.
Among the African nominees for Ballon d’ Or are Liverpool Football Club’s duo os Sane Mane and Mohamed Salah OF Senegal and Egypt just as Riyad Mahrez of Man City/ Algeria and Pierre Emreck Aubamayang of Arsenal/Gabon respectively.
Meanwhile, Liverpool lead the way with seven nominees, with Manchester City just behind with five players in the running.
LaLiga Santander giants Barcelona and Real Madrid have four and two nominees respectively, with Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard representing Los Blancos.
Spain also have five players competing for the best young player, or Kopa Trophy, wth Vinicius (Real Madrid), Lunin (Valladolid), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Samu Chukwueze (Villarreal) and Kang-In Lee (Valencia) nominated.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona goalkeepers Jan Oblak and Marc-Andre ter Stegen will go head-to-head for the Yashin Trophy.
France Football have unveiled their 30 candidates for the 2019 Ballon d’Or award.
The 50 nominations for the 2019 Men’s Ballon d’Ors (30), the Kopa Trophy (10) the newly created Yachine Trophy (10) have been announced.
For the men’s award, it looks as if it will be a two-way battle between Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Lionel Messi of Barcelona with Cristiano Ronaldo looking at third.
In August, van Dijk was voted the UEFA Player of the Year while Lionel Messi was named the FIFA FIFPro Best Men’s Player last month.
Van Dijk polled almost 100 points more than Messi in voting for the UEFA award – 305 to 207 – with Cristaino Ronaldo third with 74 points.
The FIFA FIFPro voting was a lot closer – Messi 46, van Dijk 38, and Cristiano Ronaldo 36. Ronaldo and Messi have each won the Ballon d’Or five times and finished as runners-up five times.
The other 27 nominations are: Sadio Mane; Sergio Aguero; Frenkie de Jong; Hugo Lloris; Dusan Tadic; Kylian Mbappe; Trent Alexander-Arnold; Donny van de Beek; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Marc-André ter Stegen; Alisson; Matthijs de Ligt; Karim Benzema; Georginio Wijnaldum; Bernardo Silva; Heung-min Son; Robert Lewandowski; Roberto Firmino; Kevin De Bruyne; Antoine Griezmann; Eden Hazard; Joao Felix; Kalidou Koulibaly; Riyad Mahrez; Marquinhos; Mo Salah; Raheem Sterling.
All of the players shortlisted play in Europe. Fifteen players make a living in the Premier League; La Liga 7; Serie A 3; Ligue 1 and Eredivisie have 2 each; Bundesliga 1.
Cristiano Ronaldo, in 2008, back in his Manchester United playing days, was the last Premier League player to win the award.
The Netherlands have 5 players shortlisted with France next with 4 and Portugal and Brazil 3 each. Argentina, England, Senegal, and Belgium each have 2 players listed while Serbia, Gabon, Germany, South Korea, Algeria, Egypt and Poland have one player each.
One German player and just one player currently playing in the Bundesliga is something that stands out. Another is no Neymar.